The Internet gambling ban in USA will remain

The ban on online gambling
will remain active in the country, despite the recent WTO
ruling.

The United States Trade
Representative's office issued a statement today that the ban on
foreign Internet gambling services will continue. This opened
doors for members of the World Trade Organization to seek
potential damages resulting from this ban.

The USTR does not believe that
any country, other than Antigua and Barbuda, has any basis for
claiming damages. Those countries, however, have 45-day period
to file claims.

The Trade Representative John
Veroneau argued that there was a drafting error made by the
United States as part of its commitments in the early 1990s to
open its recreational services market, and they certainly did
not mean to include gambling among those services.

In March, the WTO said the
United States had failed to comply with an April 2005 ruling
against a portion of its ban having to do with online gambling
on horse racing. The United States will exercise a rarely used
right under WTO rules to modify its services commitments and
explicitly exclude gambling, Veroneau said.